Gallaudet University is marking the 25th anniversary of the “Deaf President Now” protests. The grassroots effort was launched by students in 1988, generating national and international headlines and resulting in the university’s first deaf president.

A new study, published in the February 2013 issue of Academic Medicine, has found that while deaf and hard of hearing (DHoH) physicians are aided by accommodations, such as electronic stethoscopes and closed-captioning technologies, they spend significant amounts of personal time arranging for these tools.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Feb. 1, a former D.C. jail inmate who’s deaf and gay, accuses the city’s Department of Corrections of engaging in disability-related discrimination by refusing to provide him basic services required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A deaf motorist who insisted she needed an American Sign Language interpreter to understand the risks of refusing to take a breath test was adequately advised through a series of written exchanges with a police officer, a municipal court judge has ruled.

It has been brought to my attention that there are many people in our town who have hearing problems. In view of this they wish to know what happens when the tornado siren goes off to warn everyone and the people who have this problem can’t hear the siren.

It is my sadness news to tell you that my long time friend and chairperson of Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center, Richard Roehm has passed away yesterday. My name is Bobby Fleener and I am senior Editor for this Orange Deafies Newswire and I will be resume this newsletter as soon as possible.

Please let’s all of us say a prayer for his family members and friends.

Recently the nursery school students at The Montreal Oral School for the Deaf got a special treat….a visit from 6-year-old Ilayda Hall and her best friend Sophie Birks, both of whom are grade 1 students at ECS.